


Sink Low, Rise High

by reason_says



Category: Exquisite Corpse - Poppy Z. Brite
Genre: Cannibalism, M/M, Murder
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-21
Updated: 2011-12-21
Packaged: 2017-10-27 17:29:16
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,010
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/298271
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reason_says/pseuds/reason_says
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>You always eat the ones you love.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sink Low, Rise High

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Intoxicarcerate](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Intoxicarcerate/gifts).



1.  
The man was clearly out of place in the bar, a tourist if Jay had ever seen one. He was looking around with an almost dazed expression, as if the atmosphere were too much to take in, and Jay decided that he was exactly what he needed to get past the sour taste in his throat from passing up his chance with Tran.

It only took a handshake to inform him that he had misjudged the delicate stranger sitting across from him, but by that time it might as well have been too late. Certainly, there was no going back.

 

2.  
We’re very different, he and I. I’m quite sure no one will say as much afterwards, but it’s nevertheless true. As talented as I thought myself before we met (and oh, I did), he led me to depths I’d never even considered – me! In all my years and with all my loves, I’d barely scratched the surface.

Which isn’t a joke, no matter how much it sounds like one. Scratching was the least I’d done to the surface of my boys’ skin, so the metaphor wouldn’t exactly hold up.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. I was talking about Jay.

 

3.  
Jay had had a long time to perfect his craft by the time Andrew showed up in his city. And, of course, being a semi-prominent local figure, _perfect_ had to describe his method. Otherwise he wouldn’t have been permitted to continue as long as he had.

Smile out your door, be seen in the streets, let most of the boys get away clean, and you can do almost anything you want in your own rooms.

The pain helped them belong to him. Killing them flat out wouldn’t have been good enough; Jay needed the knife and needle to connect them.

 

4.  
I was almost tame, if you can imagine the complexities of murder as a scale from feral to domesticated. Almost _mainstream_ in my technique, were it not for the necrophilia and the homosexuality.

(Those words spoken with such distaste by the prosecutor contrived to drive my crimes away from the arms of normalcy and into the savage wilderness.)

A fruitless effort, as it turned out. I had yet to learn the bliss that could be had _beyond_ my enclave of relative civility, the thrill of teasing out every pained reaction before the act of love. Not until after my rebirth.

 

5.  
The preliminary delicacy was paramount. The scalpel slicing through cloth and skin, cleaving the flesh and the minimal fat underneath like a hot knife through butter, was as important a focusing exercise as the act of lovemaking itself. Knowing every part of him, inside and out, from skin down to bone, allowed Jay to calm down for the first time since his hard-on had first threatened the boy’s safety. It wasn’t a release of tension, not yet, but the blood rushing over his fingers brought the two of them closer together in ways the boy had almost certainly never imagined.

 

6.  
Separately, one of us had already been caught and the other would have been found out eventually, when one of his boys opened the wrong drawer and saw the evidence of those who’d come before him.

Another unintended joke, dear reader, I beg your indulgence. We would have been defeated regardless, is the ultimate point. Sometimes the fear isn’t enough to keep you on your toes, to protect you, and – though we would both deny the need – a watcher is a useful thing to have.

Separately we were doomed. But together? Ah, that could have been a different story entirely.

 

7.  
They were both convincing, that’s for sure. Jay knew he could turn the charm on when he wanted to, but he’d never understood exactly what it did to people until he saw Tran’s reaction to Andrew. That instant ease despite the awkwardness of their meeting told Jay in no uncertain terms what Andrew could do.

They both knew the power of persuasion they held over their boys. The power they had, the trust they could engender.

And the way that trust, so easily earned, slipped away in a flash of pain as the blade traced its way along his throat.

 

8.  
He taught me so much. The connection between myself and my boys had always been profound, more so than they ever appreciated, but to take it further… to consume them bodily, taking them into my very being… it was what I had been missing without ever knowing it.

My relationships had been short until then, few reaching the one-week mark. From Jay I learned how to savor the pain I brought them, to extend our interaction for as long as they could be kept fresh.

He taught me so much. But none of it, in the end, was any help.

 

9.  
From the moment Tran came up to their table, Jay knew they were heading inexorably towards something he couldn’t see yet. Andrew cited “destiny”, but Jay had never exactly gone in for that stuff, so he wasn’t sure how worried he should be. Still, the omens were not good.

Was it just the extra weight of disposing of someone who was widely known, if not well-liked, in the neighborhood? Their preparation had fallen short, so they were going in blind in more ways than one. They fucked viciously, holding on to life for once and hoping it would be enough.

 

10.  
And so it comes to this, in the end. I am alone, as I have so often been alone, and yet this time the very state of being is a lie. Although I am, as ever, alone in the room, I am no longer alone in my own body. How could I be, with Jay to keep me company?

As I think these thoughts his essence is being absorbed into mine, where it will stay for as long as I live and die. My experience with both of these states suggests we will be together for some time to come.


End file.
